Site Moved

Just wanted to put a little post to let you know that I have moved my blog to the following website which contains my blog and some other information. Please see andrewhaire.org for more information. Blessings!
-AH

Children/Discipline follow up from Ashley

Here is the blog post my wife did as a follow up to my post on children and discipline. Enjoy!

http://ashleynandrew.blogspot.com/2012/02/children.html

Children: A Blessing From The Lord

This is the most recent picture of my two wonderful children. This picture was taken in December and the photo shoot was a present from a wonderful Dr. that I worked with at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, MO. She was truly a blessing to my family.

The Bible says in Psalm 127:3-5,

            Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
      the fruit of the womb a reward.
            4       Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
      are the children of one’s youth.
            5       Blessed is the man
      who fills his quiver with them!
                  He shall not be put to shame
      when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

As we can see from this passage, children are a blessing. The Psalmist even continues to say that one who has children is blessed as the warrior who has many arrows in his quiver. In the gospel of Matthew, we see where Jesus remarks about children (Matthew 19:14):

Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.

To unpack this story a little, some people brought their children to Jesus so that He could lay His hands on them and pray over them. The disciples that were with Jesus rebuked the parents; however, Jesus rebukes the disciples and beckons the children unto Him and declared that the kingdom of heaven belonged to them. What does this mean? I think that in his commentary, Matthew Henry explains it well, "The children of believing parents belong to the kingdom of heaven, and are members of the visible church. Of such, not only of such in disposition and affection (that might have served for a reason why doves or lambs should be brought to him), but of such, in age, is the kingdom of heaven; to them pertain the privileges of visible church-membership, as among the Jews of old. The promise is to you, and to your children. I will be a God to thee and thy seed." For this reason, they are welcome to Christ and can share in His grace.

Parents are then to be trustees of their children including their wills and to act in and for their benefit. This leads me to my topic of discussion thanks to a wonderful sister in Christ's suggestion. There are some misinterpreted Scriptures out there. Now, I am not suggesting that my way is the only way; however, after much study I simply want to show you what the Bible says about certain Scriptures that could be misinterpreted.

The first that I will examine is the old saying "Spare the rod, spoil the child". This is not found in Scripture worded exactly as above, at least not that I can find. However, it is worded in Proverbs 13:24 as follows:
Whoever spares the rod hates his son (Prov 13:24a). The rod that is spoken of here is the rod of discipline. The verse continues: but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him (Prov 13:24b). As we see, discipline is highly encouraged in the Scripture. The reason that I believe the word hate is used here is because as we see from Matthew, as parents, we are to be trustees of our children. If we do not discipline our children, then we are hindering their future success. This can be seen in Proverbs 23:13-14: Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. As we can clearly see, we should discipline our children so that not to condemn them to Sheol which is often referred to as hell or the grave/death in the Hebrew.

Now that I have discussed discipline, and I know all children need it at times, we as parents are held to a higher standard to some respects. Proverbs 22: 6 says: Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. From this verse, we see that we are to train our children up in the Lord (because that is the way for Christians to go) and we have the hope that they will not depart from it. The Apostle Paul tells us not to provoke our children to anger, rather bring them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord (Eph 6:4).

So, in closing, we see that proper godly discipline is taught and commanded by Scripture. This is NOT, however, by any means giving the OK to abuse and there is a line that should never be crossed. I want to instruct my children in the ways of God and help them to be better citizens for the community and for the Kingdom. This means that, although they are perfect in their grandparents' eyes, they must have discipline appropriate for their age at times. Showing proper godly discipline is showing love; by withholding it, a great disservice is done.

He IS Risen!

Today is Easter. Today is one of the most attended church days. As I reflected upon the resurrection, the cross, and all the events that led up to it, I could not help but do a self-reflection. I am not a horrible person; however, I have not always made the wisest choices or lived the most sanctified life. Christ loved me enough to bear the weight of all my past sins and future sins and suffer the cross. For that, I am eternally grateful. In addition to this, Christ endured some extreme suffering. Although Christ came to earth to die, the Father could have allowed His Son's death to be in any number of ways; however, He allowed and planned it so that it would be painful and full of suffering. This shows me the Grace, Mercy, and Love of the Father and the Son. So, He IS indeed risen. The question is, are we truly allowing Him to be risen in every area of our life? May God bless you and yours!

Thanksgiving

I am thinking today about Thanksgiving which is rapidly approaching. Throughout Scripture we see that we are to be thankful for many things and we are to give thanks to God. Indeed I think we should dwell on the things that we are thankful for, both great and small, and November is just as good a time as any to be conduits on the things we are thankful for.

So many times we take for granted the blessings that we have; however, I also think that we take advantage of the second part of the word Thanksgiving. That is the giving part. How often do we focus on the being thankful without giving back. I feel that the two go hand in hand. We should be thankful that we are blessed financially and in turn give to those that are not. We should be thankful for the church God has given to us, but how much do we give of our time, resources, and assets to the church? We are thankful for our family, but how much time do we really spend with our family? We are thankful for the blessings God has given us and for His grace and salvation, but how much time do we spend with Him?

You see, I am not saying that we are to give all our money away and that we should give all our time away; however, in addition and return for being thankful, we can give.

My challenge to us all (and that includes me) is to truly have a spirit of thanksgiving: being thankful and giving.

God bless each and everyone of you!!!

Family

Just thinking today on how nice it is when we have family around us. Even though my poor old dad gets under my skin some times and is rough around the edges, it is always nice when he and mom come for a visit. I thought today bout how blessed I am to have such loving, giving parents. They drove two vehicles yesterday (one was Ashley's we left behind in the move to OK) almost 800 miles. That is really a big deal especially for my mom who does not like driving at all. The Lord showed me that not everybody has parents that would take time out of their schedule and sacrifice their personal comforts for their children. Ashley and I are appreciative!

Yesterday, Ashley and I were hurrying and scurrying around to finishing cleaning and organizing the house for mom and dad coming. The thought occurred to me that so many times we clean up and tidy up for human company, but how often do we examine our hearts and our spiritual lives and see what we can clean up and organize for Christ? We are by no means perfect, nor will we be until our toes are turned up and we are face to face with our Lord and Savior, but we need to strive toward righteousness. I think sometimes we do not take the time to examine and look over our spiritual "house" to see what needs to be cleaned or thrown away or organized because we are afraid of what we may find. That is why their is forgiveness and grace and mercy.

I will leave you with this, we all know the song Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. But not to many of us can recall this verse Jesus loves me when I'm good, when I've done the things I should; Jesus loves me when I'm bad, even though it makes Him sad.

Yes friend, Jesus does love us even when we sin and break His heart. So let us take time today and examine our hearts and see what we can clean up for The Lord.
-Amen

Intro Post

Well, hats off to Robins Nesting Place for encouraging me and helping me get a blog. I must say that this is new to me; however, I believe that I will enjoy it. As you can see, I am a little behind on some of the technology out there today but I am catching up.

Well, I will start off with my thought for today. The thought for today is about the Heart of The Gospel, and being a Christian, I think we should all think about what the heart of the Gospel truly is. This is something that has been on my mind since my devotion Monday, which I must give credit to RBC Ministries (specifically Our Daily Bread). E. Stanley Jones was one of the greatest and one of the most well-known missionaries, traveling all over but mainly to India. He once had a meeting with Gandhi at which time he asked Gandhi how could Christianity make a stronger impact on the country of India. Gandhi responded with three points. First, Christians must begin to live more like Jesus. Second, the Christian faith should be presented without any adulteration. And third, Christians should emphasize love, which is at the heart of the Gospel.

This absolutely astounded me. Here is a non-Christian summing up the heart of the Gospel with one word and it is true......LOVE. I think that what Gandhi said applies to us as Christians today and here in America. We need to show Love and not be afraid to testify. If Christians begin to stand up, we will be heard.

Blessings on you today and always!
In His Service,